Ascension Outdoors Descends on Dularge!

A recent phone call from my fishing buddy, Lyle Johnson, resulted in plans for filming a little fishing trip for the recently reinstated outdoors show “Ascension Outdoors”, co-hosted by Lyle and his brother-in-law, Goosie Guice.  I’m not sure why they call him Goosie, but it might have something to do with the fact that he was a championship duck caller at one time.  Heck, he might still be for all I know.

I readily agreed to having them on board BAB with their fishing and camera gear filming one of the first episodes to air upon their return. All would go well if the fish would be nice and cooperate.

Day broke across Lake Decade full of beauty and hope.  The wind blew a little more briskly than we would have liked but not enough to deter us from our enjoyable task of finding and catching fall speckled trout.

After scouting the lake the week before and catching three in about half an hour at high noon, I was hopeful that the coveted yellow mouths would be thicker by this time.  Hopefully, the recent cold front helped pushed them further inland into this brackish lake they inhabit during the colder winter months.

As we arrived at the spot which I suspected would be most productive in this seven-square-mile water body, the number of boats already trying their luck assured me the word was out:  The trout have arrived in Lake Decade.

Some fishermen were already on anchor, hauling in trout almost every cast.  Others were doing the trolling dance, going round and round following schools of the head shakers.  Some were fishing straight cast and retrieve, while others were fishing under popping corks.  Seemed everyone was catching, no matter what the approach.

The plan was that Lyle and I would fish while Goosie filmed, and they would later swap places.  My bait of choice for the morning was a black plastic with a chartreuse tail, having received a tip from my fishing buddies who racked up the weekend before.

Lyle decided to try some topwater action, hoping to avoid the annoying hangups on the aquatic grass.  His choice was a good one, as he hauled in the fist trout of the morning.  The time:  7:20 a.m.

A few nice fish took my bait before I got a look at what a nearby boat was using that seemed to be more to their liking.  Couldn’t tell exactly what type of plastic it was, but the color was the key—white.  So, I switched to a white grub and later to a glow and chartreuse chub minnow.  The took each bait equally well until late morning.

Meanwhile, Lyle had me about three to one after switching to a plastic called Electric Chicken.  We haven’t figured out why it is named that, and we shared a few notions that made Goosie cackle with laughter.  Lyle finally deduced whomever named the bait must have been on something stronger than jungle juice at the time!

Goosie handed the camera to Lyle and got in on the action before the bite slowed down.  By this time, with the sun high on the water, the trout switched from eating the light colors to a preference for darker, even black plastics.  A nearby fishermen finished his limit and trolled over showing us what he had caught the last few on.  Being the standup guy he is, S.H. (a fishing acquaintance) handed me one of his baits rigged on a very light jighead.

S.H. took me to school that morning on how to finesse those trout up in the water column out of those grass beds, decreasing the drag of the grass–the jighead was only 1/16th of an ounce, lighter than I typically use for trout.  That’s just one of the things I love about fishing–there is always something more to learn.  And it takes a heck of a fisherman to share the tips he’s learned over the years with an aspiring fisherwoman.

We finished the trip around 11 a.m. with a nice mess of fish–about 29 with only two throw-backs.  For this early in the fall season, we call that a good trip.  We exchanged fishing tales, had a few laughs, and made a TV show while we were at it.

After the trip, we headed back to Camp Dularge where Lyle set up the camera, and he and Goosie filmed the “studio” portion of the TV show.  That was just the coolest thing ever.  So, if you watch the show, it will look something like the photo below, I think . . .

I got to hold the timer and show them how many minutes they had left with my fingers, 3, 2, 1!  And right there on the back deck of my camp, they filmed the introduction to the show.  Pretty cool!

It just doesn’t get much better than that.

If you would like to watch the show, visit www.pelicansportstv.com online tonight at 9 p.m.  If that isn’t correct, Lyle can correct me in the comments section.  I haven’t personally seen the show yet, so go easy on me, because I’m pretty sure I’m going to be the dorkiest fisherwoman on film E V E R !   If you really like the show and would like to purchase a DVD of the episode, go here and order one for $15, shipping included.

I’m out fishing today!

Guess where?

BW